On your feet, eating, things will start to improve from there.Amazing what a difference a week or two will make physically and mentally.

Small digestible chunks and you can grind it away.

I am 4 weeks after open surgery for adhesions and I can't exercise or run (I love running) so I understand your frustration at not being able to strength train or dance. Just find something that keeps you positive, keeps you focused on a life not exclusively about cancer and you can find your "Claudia place".

After open surgery, when did you start to drive, walk the dog, hike on terrain? Did you use a belt?

I had open surgery with a five inch scar and four other holes. The first time I drove after surgery was 9 days later. I drove three times for about five miles and had no problems. We don't have a dog but I was walked 5,000 steps 8 days after, 8,000 steps 9 days after and 27,000 steps (9 miles) 10 days after. I did not use a belt, either for the bag or for support. In retrospect, walking the 9 miles was probably more than I should have done.

I've read about others that drove five days after surgery. I don't know what kind of surgery they had though (open vs lap).

Tomorrow I will try to fish more information from the doctors, they tell me so little about my status and future, I understood from the net that now I have a colostomy and later I will have a ileostomy, but they somehow don’t want to use the scientific terms and explain what it is.

I had a ct scan with contrast (really painful to get it both IV and in the rectum while everything was blocked) but they did not tell me anything about what they saw.

Perhaps I just need to explain then that I understand their language and I am not an hysterical Italian mama.

Tomorrow I will try to fish more information from the doctors, they tell me so little about my status and future, I understood from the net that now I have a colostomy and later I will have a ileostomy, but they somehow don’t want to use the scientific terms and explain what it is.

I had a ct scan with contrast (really painful to get it both IV and in the rectum while everything was blocked) but they did not tell me anything about what they saw.

Perhaps I just need to explain then that I understand their language and I am not an hysterical Italian mama.

Claudia

Does this mean that you have a temporary colostomy and will get an ileostomy later on?

Curative cancer surgery demands special considerations. There is a danger of spreading or seeding the cancer during the process of removing it. Presuming the cancer cells can grow almost anywhere in the body to which they spread, the surgeon must not "spill" cells into the operating field or "knock them loose" into the blood stream. Special techniques called "block resection" and "no touch" are used. Block resection means taking the entire specimen out as a single piece. "No touch" means that only the normal tissue removed with specimen is handled; the cancer itself is never touched. This prevents "squeezing" cancer cells out into the circulation. Further, in this technique pains are taken to clamp off the blood supply first, preventing cells from leaving by that route later in the surgery.

Curative cancer surgery demands special considerations. There is a danger of spreading or seeding the cancer during the process of removing it. Presuming the cancer cells can grow almost anywhere in the body to which they spread, the surgeon must not "spill" cells into the operating field or "knock them loose" into the blood stream. Special techniques called "block resection" and "no touch" are used. Block resection means taking the entire specimen out as a single piece. "No touch" means that only the normal tissue removed with specimen is handled; the cancer itself is never touched. This prevents "squeezing" cancer cells out into the circulation. Further, in this technique pains are taken to clamp off the blood supply first, preventing cells from leaving by that route later in the surgery.

Claudia

Thank you for sharing this Claudia, very good information!

This helps me understand why my surgeon has made me wait so long to remove tumor and resect.My tumor is in the descending colon at the splenic juncture and quite close to the pancreas.

I had an emergency colostomy about 6 months ago due to a blockage which was most likely caused by colitis which inflamed the entire colon and sealed off the remainder of the space near the primary tumor. I am hopeful that with continued shrinkage of my tumor and liver mets that they will reconsider colectomy and resection in 2018.

Wishing you a speedy recovery and best of luck as you continue your treatments. By the way I was driving about 10 days after open surgery (5 inch incision)

Atoq wrote:Thanks a lot Shana. I am home now and the main problem is to understand how much I can do and I should not do / rest.

The recovery has been really quick and I went home on Monday without any painkiller, just anticoagulant injections, which I have to do till the next surgery in February.

The management of the colostomy has been until now easy and I use the Sensura mio one piece bags from Coloplast.

I still feel some pain when gas or stool come out but I hope it is because the tissue is still healing.

Tomorrow I will go to remove my 30 staples and have a CT scan of the chest.

Claudia

I think you're doing great Claudia! It sounds like you were in excellent shape before surgery which is likely why you are healing so quickly. I am sure you are getting a lot of advice so I will just say listen to your body and take it easy when you feel fatigued.

I did not pick up anything over 10lbs for about 6 weeks as recommended by my surgeon. That area is going to be sore while it's healing which is to be expected.

It's taken me awhile but I've learned a lot about my digestive system and know that a meal stimulates things so I take that into account when traveling for a distance so I don't need to make a stop on the road.

I stopped taking anticoagulant injections when I was released from the hospital. Is that standard protocol for you to take them where you received your surgery?